Novel Studies on the Prevalence of Leaf Spot Disease of Banana and its Chemical Control in Lower Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

In the current study, different chemical fungicides were used for effective management of Fusarium oxysporum, which is a causal agent of banana leaf spot disease. A survey of the banana-infected field was conducted in various regions of Sindh, Pakistan; Recorded disease incidence showed that Thatta was severely affected by leaf spot up to (46.66%), followed by Badin (28.88%) and minimum disease incidence was recorded in Hyderabad (24.44%). The pre-dominant pathogen was morphologically identified as Fusarium oxysporum; for confirmation of casual fungal, a pathogenicity test was done by two different methods i.e root dipping and drenching method. It was observed that the root dipping method of inoculation showed higher leaf spots (06) development on banana as compared to drenching method; leaf spot (03) of inoculation. To determine the efficacy of various chemical fungicides, such as Melodyduo, Aliette, Prevail, Topsin-M and Ridomil gold, were used at different doses, such as 100, 200, and 300 ppm, the findings of the study indicates that F. oxysporum was completely stopped to grew against the Prevail and Topsin-M (0.00 mm) at 100, 200 and 300 ppm, respectively, while the vegetative growth of the targeted fungi was slightly high against Ridomil Gold (18.16, 15.66 and 5.75 mm), as well Melody duo (24.33, 19.08 and 13.75 mm). Maximum mycelial growth of the pathogen was observed under Aliette (32.00, 27.83 and 26.08 mm). The Fusarium oxysporum vigorously developed under control (90mm). Present findings of the study suggested that Prevail and Topsin-M considerably retarded the mycelial growth and positively controlled the targeted pathogen.